Appendix
Tables illustrating economic structure
and growth
Table 1: The boom in Australia, 1901-09
This table shows the extraordinary economic expansion in Australia during the first decade of federation. Unfortunately, comparable figures for 1902-5 were not available since the Commonwealth Year Books were only published from 1908. Production certainly declined in 1902 and 1903, so the boom from 1903-6 is even more impressive than that implied here. Note, too, the dramatic widening of fortunes between New South Wales, which grows 68% from 1901-9, and Victoria, which grows just 38%. Where New South Wales is just 26% ahead of Victoria in 1901, it is 54% ahead in 1909. This is due to the far greater dynamism of the wool and mining industries, which are still enormous engines of growth in New South Wales. In £000s.

Source: Official Year Book of the Commonwealth of Australia, 1908, 1909, 1910, 1911.

Table 2: The boom in Australian exports and imports
This table gives some sense of the massive boom that raged from 1905-7. It was the prosperity of the export industries that gave New South Wales a boom far greater than that of any other state, while Victoria shared only modestly in the prosperity.

Source: Insurance and Banking Record, 21 December 1908, p 993
Table 3: Bust and boom in the wool industry, 1901-7
This table shows how much more important the production of wool for export was in New South Wales, compared with Victoria; and also the explosion in the value of wool exports from 1902 to 1907. In £000s.

Source: Year Book of Aust 1903, p 814; Year Book of Aust 1904, p 806; Year Book of Aust 1905, p 806; Year Book of Aust 1906, p 790; Year Book of Aust 1907, p 774; Year Book of Aust 1908, p 774; Year Book of Aust 1909, p 774. Note: the Year Book of Australia was a commercial publication which used official government statistics.
Table 4: Economic profile of Victoria and New South Wales
This table shows the difference in importance of various industries for New South Wales and Victoria in 1906. This was a reasonably representative year. Note that while production for home consumption is relatively more important in Victoria, pastoral production and mining for export are far more important in New South Wales. In £000s.

Comm year book 1908, p 917. Note that pastoral production was much wider than wool, and included skins, meat, and livestock.